Gate Keeping Essay

There are many processes a newspaper must go through before it can be sold in a newsagent and lots of people are involved in making just one article. The process that makes this article is called ‘Gate keeping’. To begin with, the news is first caught hold of by the news agencies, who then sell the stories to the news media. The copy taster then makes a quick selection of stories they consider news worthy to the paper they are working for, although they only dismiss the obvious non – news worthy stories as they don’t hold a great deal of responsibility. What they consider suitable they send off to the news editor. It is the news editor’s job to make a definitive judgment if which stories will be followed up and which ones will not. They decide what angle to take on the story according to what perceptions they want to portray to the reader. They then select, in their own opinion, reporters and photographers they consider suitable to create the story. However, if the story took place in another county, a foreign news editor will be assigned to this job instead. Photographers and reporters work on the same time scale. They decide how to display the information, and it is their job to research the story before working on it so that they have their facts clear (this also comes into importance when the story is handed to the sub editor). This might include going to the site the event took place, going to interviews, searching the library or the internet. The reporters will then write up the story taking into consideration what the news editor has suggested to them. Their copy must be given to the news editor before the deadline. The news editor will then check it, and make sure it has taken the correct angles and spins. If it has not they will give it back to the reporter with suggestions of how to make it more news worthy. The photographers discuss with the head photographer what photos will be best suited to the story. They then research the story, and their prints must be developed and handed to the picture editor by the deadline stated. It is the picture editor’s responsibility to crop and enlarge the photos, to best fit the story. Everything is then handed to the sub editor who will then correct spelling and grammar, write eye catching headlines and captions, check that the story is within the law, i.e. so no one can take legal action against the newspaper. They also decide the layout of the article, making sure words don’t overlap pictures etc. Everything is then handed to the editor who then writes an editorial and is in charge of advertising. Designers are employed to create adverts and work on features. For smaller articles in the newspaper, a features editor is employed. Therefore a newspaper begins at a news agency and end up at a newsagent.